From moonshine to modern craft: The story of Tennessee distilling

Tennessee has had a complicated relationship with alcohol. Today, 10 of 95 counties remain completely dry while distilleries and breweries are sprouting up.

Lacy Atkins / USA TODAY NETWORK – Tennessee

Just off I-40 east of Knoxville, Dwight Bearden unlocks a shed beside Thunder Road Distillery, revealing a Prohibition-era, museum-quality display — rocks stacked around a tarnished contraption beside a weathered oak barrel. He points to the long-patched gash where, deep in the woods, the feds cracked open his father's copper pot still.

The white-haired Bearden recalls long ago crawling over bottles of corn liquor to get into bed, and his father denying the stash to thirsty customers at the door.

“They don’t know how to drink it,” Bearden says his dad told him. “The first thing they do if you sell it to them, they get drunk. First thing they do is slap their wife around. And if she knows where they got it, you’re caught.

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About 25 miles south, in Gatlinburg, Josh Madore stands behind a counter at Sugarlands Distilling Co., on the outskirts of the Great Smoky Mountains. The 30-something repeats a well-rehearsed shtick to tens of tourists at a time while pouring thimble-sized samples of craft spirits, many branded in conjunction with the Discovery Channel show “Moonshiners.” He turns the group over every 20 minutes or so. Nearly a million visitors pour through the doors each year.

“Please, when you leave here, go on TripAdvisor,” Madore says. “We’re easy to find. We’re the No. 1 ‘thing to do’ in Gatlinburg. Write a good review ... .”

The juxtaposition between eras of distilling in Tennessee is as stark as water is to whiskey; the story of the industry’s rise, fall and rebirth as American as apple pie moonshine.

Nationally and locally, the craft distilling sector is growing rapidly. Tennessee was home to three distillers in three counties before laws were relaxed in 2009, but has since issued permits for more than 30 distilleries. Most are tiny operations that combined produce a drop in the bucket, or barrel, compared to world-renowned Jack Daniel’s, which stacks its largest warehouses with 60,000 casks and was a small outfit itself until Frank Sinatra declared its Tennessee whiskey "the nectar of the gods."

A lot has changed about moonshine since it left Thunder Road for Gatlinburg’s Parkway. What haven’t changed are the basic ingredients used to make it.

Angela Gosnell/News Sentinel

In nearby Pigeon Forge, the distilling process is on full display. A water wheel powers a mill that crushes locally sourced grains, which are combined with water and yeast in a mash that’s fermented and distilled to create a variety of spirits at Old Forge Distillery next door.

On this afternoon in April, Kris Tatum, the Old Forge general manager and president of the Tennessee Distillers Guild, is preparing for a trip to Nashville to support legislation to allow distilleries to sell cocktails made with in-house spirits, as opposed to merely liquor.

In June, the group plans to launch the Tennessee Whiskey Trail, a marketing vehicle akin to the Kentucky Bourbon Trail, albeit on a grander scale, to help promote distillers across the state.

“Other than tequila, champagne and scotch,” Tatum says, “everything else is being made in Tennessee.”

Kris Tatum, President of the Tennessee Distillers Guild talks about moonshine.

Lacy Atkins / USA TODAY NETWORK — Tennessee

Looking back to the early 19th century, the state has had a complicated relationship with alcohol.

Tennessee passed the first prohibition law in the United States on Jan. 26, 1838, making it a misdemeanor to sell alcoholic drinks and delighting the religious-minded temperance societies that had grown in political clout.

More than 70 years passed before the legislature outright barred the manufacture, sale and consumption of alcohol in 1909 — a decade before national Prohibition, which lasted from 1920 to 1933. The state ban remained in effect until 1938, when distilleries were allowed to reopen in Lincoln, Moore and Coffee counties.

More than 70 years passed yet again before state law was revised in 2009, allowing distilling in an additional 41 counties. Today, 10 of 95 counties remain completely dry — they prohibit alcohol sales of any kind — according to the Tennessee Alcoholic Beverage Commission. A majority also impose some level of restrictions on where and how alcohol may be purchased.

But distilleries have sprouted across the state ever since, beginning with Ole Smoky in Gatlinburg, which joined Jack Daniel’s, George Dickel and Benjamin Prichard’s.

About 140 miles southwest, in Chattanooga, Tim Piersant skateboards around a cavernous former car dealership. This is the future production facility for his Chattanooga Whiskey Co., the first legal distillery in the city since Prohibition. Distilling was once among the largest industries in the state, and this was one of its largest centers of manufacturing.

But distilling remained illegal in Hamilton County in 2011, when Piersant and Joe Ledbetter registered the ChattanoogaWhiskey.com domain. In a city known for its craft beer, they launched a successful public campaign to overturn the law.

In the interim, the duo began buying bulk whiskey made in Indiana, bottling it in Kentucky and selling it with a Chattanooga label. But they were overt about the practice, using the industry’s “makers vs. fakers” debate as a cudgel while lobbying lawmakers for their cause.

After the legislation changed, the company began a small distillery in 2015 across the street from the famed Chattanooga Choo Choo Hotel, where it fills about a barrel a week. The new facility will produce seven barrels a day.

About 90 miles northwest, in Lynchburg, surrounded by farmland, the giants churn.

Four stills the size of missiles pump Tennessee whiskey around the clock at Jack Daniel’s Distillery.

“I don’t mean to offend you,” master distiller Jeff Arnett once playfully told visiting Sugarlands employees, they recalled, “but we spill more in a year than you make.”

Tennessee whiskey, like bourbon, must consist of at least 51 percent corn mash, be distilled to no more than 160 proof and aged at least two years in new charred oak barrels. It also, by law, must be made in the state and filtered through sugar maple charcoal, a step known as the “Lincoln County Process.”

Jack Daniel’s ships to nearly 170 countries. But all alcohol sales are barred in Moore County outside the distillery. Jack Daniel’s visitors can, however, sip shots in a small warehouse, where sweet caramel and vanilla notes dance in the air, escaping from 6,000 casks stacked to the ceiling.

“We’re still famously a dry town,” Arnett says, “but every brewery, winery and distillery can do a sampling tour for a price.”

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About 60 miles northeast, in the rolling countryside east of Murfreesboro, Billy Kaufman has found a new life at Short Mountain Distillery.

Kaufman wears a derby, handlebar mustache and snarl in a mugshot online, a throwback to the Prohibition era and perhaps his time as an art director in the film industry. He’s found an equally creative way to legally offer his spirits in mixed drinks like mojitos, margaritas and Old Fashioneds, serving tiny versions as part of a tour.

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“The funny thing is that we have a cocktail class where we do mini-cocktails in order to get around the (regulations),” Kaufman said. “You know, instead of doing like a tasting, we do a mini-cocktail class that we serve out of flights."

Billy Kaufman, President and CEO of Short Mountain Distillery talks about the lifestyle of living and making spirits in Cannon County, Tenn.

Lacy Atkins / USA TODAY NETWORK — Tennessee

According to local legend, previous landowner Cooper Melton was a true outlaw who used the farm’s cave spring to make moonshine for Al Capone.

About 65 miles northwest, in bustling Nashville, Tatum, the guild president, arrives at the state capital to support the push to let distilleries serve cocktails.

Nashville is home to a host of microbreweries and a burgeoning party scene. Pedal taverns crawl down Broadway. Honky-tonks are overrun by bachelor and bachelorette parties. Patrons enjoy craft cocktails in dim speakeasies and posh rooftop bars.

Corsair opened in 2010, becoming the first legal distillery in Nashville since Prohibition. Nelson’s Green Brier Distillery, once the largest in the state, has been resurrected by Charles Nelson’s great-great-great-grandchildren.

Andy and Charlie Nelson talk about their generations-old family business, and how they decided to start it up again.

Wochit

Like the city's population and dining scene, its demand for high-end drinks continues to grow.

Brian Downing, a whiskey expert and brand ambassador for George Dickel, sips from a rocks glass at trendy Pinewood Social.

“There’s a lot of different metrics that go into making a good whiskey,” Downing says. “I like breaking down every spirit I drink into appearance, aroma, texture, flavor, finish, basically working from the top of the head down. This is a super-nerdy analytical way to look at enjoyment, right?

“Frankly, at the end of the day, a good whiskey is one you enjoy.”

About 50 miles northwest, in Clarksville, Old Glory Distilling taps into its proximity to Fort Campbell in part by selling star-spangled bottles of rum. Founder Matt Cunningham said the name is inspired by the World War II era, a time when people took great pride in their craft.

Cunningham, 26, opened the distillery just off I-24 in October, and has kept the shelves stocked with Tennessee Vodka, a spirit filtered through sugar maple charcoal. He's also speeding the traditional whiskey-aging process with a limited batch of small barrels, which provide more surface area to volume.

Matt Cunningham, proprietor of Old Glory Distilling Company talks about his love for Clarksville, firefighting and distilling.

Lacy Atkins / USA TODAY NETWORK - Tennessee

Cunningham notes how the craft distilling industry is following in the footsteps of craft beer, but says he and the majority of his clientele prefer cocktails to straight liquor. Selling mixed drinks would help his business.

“We’re not beer and wine, which are made to drink straight out of the bottle," he says.

Moonshine stories are told by an old timer himself and a young proprietor of a local distillery.

Lacy Atkins / USA Today Network – Tennessee

About 125 miles southwest, in Jackson, Sam Bryant last summer opened an eponymous distillery where his tree-removal business once stood. Distilling is in its infancy in West Tennessee.

Bryant, a former chemical engineering major and longtime wine enthusiast, installed four stills on the concrete floor in the large metal structure that once housed his bucket trucks. He then built a tasting room out of lumber from his previous enterprise.

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Another 90 miles southwest, in Memphis, tourists with frozen daiquiris stroll past bars lining legendary Beale Street, exempt from the state’s open container laws. Memphis is home to a nascent distilling scene.

Chris Canale, whose family once ran an Anheuser-Busch distributor, is making vodka and whiskey at Old Dominick Distillery, which opened May 1. Days later, Tennessee’s alcohol legislation continued to evolve, like whiskey in a barrel. Gov. Bill Haslam signed House Bill 1287 into law, allowing distilleries to sell cocktails.

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“Growing up in that environment, where we operated a family business in the city we were proud of, was something that was very important to me,” Canale told The Commercial Appeal last year. “We’re sort of coming full circle. This is really about us getting back to what we do.”

The 1,800-gallon distilling system will rank among the largest in the state.

Nearly 450 miles east, back in Gatlinburg, at Sugarlands, Greg Eidam has been waiting two years for this day. He's preparing to open Sugarlands' first barrel of whiskey, using a forklift to position it at the base of a large steel vessel.

“This is just like Jack Daniel’s does it,” the master distiller jokes, drilling a screw into the wooden bung, then using a small crowbar to pry the stopper from its hole.

Eidam inserts two copper tubes, holding them in place with bungee cords hooked to the ends of the barrel. This, he explains, will allow the whiskey to breathe as it’s poured.

Ned Vickers, the distillery’s president and co-owner, grasps the barrel to keep it from rolling as it’s lifted above the open-top container, then slowly rolls it over the vessel's mouth, spilling the amber liquid through a stainless steel screen. The pair snap photos as their whiskey pours from the barrel.

Craft brewing facts

In October, the American Craft Spirits Association cited 1,315 active craft distillers in the U.S., accounting for $2.4 billion in annual retail sales, a growth of 28 percent over the previous five years.

There is no federally recognized category of liquor known as moonshine, which is traditionally any untaxed and therefore illegal spirit, often transported at night — or under the shine of the moon.

Benjamin Prichard's opened in Lincoln County in 1997, becoming the first new legal distillery in the state since the repeal of Prohibition.

After the local law changed, the Chattanooga Whiskey Co. began a small “experimental distillery” in 2015, directly across the street from the famed Chattanooga Choo Choo Hotel. It expects its initial batch of 2-year-old whiskey on shelves this summer.

Frank Sinatra was buried with a bottle of Jack Daniel’s, a pack of Camel cigarettes, a Zippo lighter and 10 dimes, which he carried so he always had change for a pay phone.

Nelson’s Green Brier was relaunched by bottling spirits produced out of state, like Chattanooga Whiskey did, and selling the rye-heavy beverage under the revived Belle Meade Bourbon label. The distillery plans to release its first batch of Tennessee whiskey on July 4.

A liquor must have been aged at least two years to be described as “straight.”

Benjamin Prichard's, because of a grandfathering exemption in 2013, is the only distillery able to legally call its product "Tennessee whiskey" without adhering to the Lincoln County Process. It’s also the only active distillery in Lincoln County.

Spirits that had undergone three distillation processes were once marked with three X’s. Modern stills do the job and then some in a single run.